Chesapeake Bay Spill May Do Little Harm

KILMARNOCK, Va. — About 160,000 gallons of fuel oil that spilled into Chesapeake Bay from a grounded barge will not significantly harm the nation’s largest estuary, officials said.

Cleanup of the oil began Thursday, one day after the barge sprang a leak near Smith Point. The barge ran aground at the mouth of Indian Creek when the leak grew to a 30-foot crack in the hull.

Ann Hayward Walker, a scientific support coordinator with the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, said the fuel appeared to be concentrated in about a quarter mile surrounding the barge in Indian Creek. “The rest of the bay looks pretty clean,” she said.